Shinobi's fury
by Gerti
Summary: Almost twenty years later the vord return to the land of their defeat, and even the combined armies of Alera will be hard pressed to stop them. So the First Lord Gaius Octavian must come up with a plan to hopefully turn the tides of the war.


**Hello, and welcome to the premier story in the Naruto/Codex Alera category!**

**I really always wondered why no-one decided to pioneer into this category, so I decided to try my hand at it.  
And thus, Shinobi's fury was born. **

**Please read and enjoy!**

**Gerti does not own the Codex Alera or Naruto.**

Chapter 1: The legend reborn

This was not going to end well.

Gaius Octavian stood atop the tallest tower of the fortress that was Riva.  
One-million legionnaires, thousands of mules, and all of the most powerful furycrafters of Alera were gathered whithin it's walls.

And they were losing.

Each and every one of his soldiers was capable of slaughtering a dozen of the vord soldiers, the high-lords could destroy a hundred of them in one blow.  
But the overwhelming tide of the vord army could take those losses with a smile.  
He had apparently underestimated the vords ability to reproduce. There had to be billions of chitinous forms swarming towards the fortress.

And his people would pay for his mistake.

Soft footsteps came from the stairwell, but the First lord of Alera continued to stare out at the battle below.

"One would think you would grow tired of watching this Aleran."

A pair of slender arms wrapped around his shoulders and he sighed, breathing in the scent of the woman by his side.

"There has to be something I've missed." he muttered, "Something, anything that can help us win."

He gripped the crown that marked him as the high lord of Alera and threw it to the ground.

"I'm the crow-begotten first lord of Alera!" he shouted, glaring up at the star-lit sky as if it held the answers he sought, "I should be able to do _something_!"

He slumped suddenly and leaned back into Kitai's embrace, closing his eyes.

He was tired.

Tired of all the pointless destruction and death.

Tired of the greed and maliciousness of his people.

So very tired.

Kitai remained quiet for a moment and simply hugged Tavi harder.

"You take too much responsibility on yourself chala. You're just one man. A good man, but you're still only human."

Tavi turned away from the battle and returned the embrace, drawing strength from the contact.

High above the battle below, away from prying eyes, Gaius Octavian wept for his people.

Several hours later, laying on the floor atop the tower with Kitai beside him, Tavi had an insane idea.

"We're ready for this siege."

Maximus was adressing the assembled lords of Alera in the spacious meeting room, on the very bottom floor of the Rivan castle. While it was rather inconvenient to hold their meetings in the cold, damp, and rather ill-lit room, no-one wanted another incident like the one that had occurred during the battle of the Elinarch. In one fell stroke the canim army had obliterated the command structure of the first Aleran army, leaving third subtribune logistica Rufus Scipio, also known as Tavi, in command of the army. And while he had performed beyond expectations, actually holding the bridge even while hopelessly outnumbered, another blow like that would most likely be fatal for all of Alera.

"Our troops are armed to the teeth and we have plenty of supplies." Maximus continued, outlining their tactical situation.

One of the assembled lords spoke up,

"How can you say that?" the new lord of Aquitanes territory questioned, "We're outnumbered at least fifty to one!"

Maximus sent the man a withering glare before responding calmly.

"Because not only do we have an advantage as the defenders, and not only do we have Canim, Marat, and Icemen legions standing strong alongside us." he paused and looked over the assembled lords, "But because we're the legions of Alera! We'll send those crowbegotten bugs running with their tails between their legs like the slives they are!"

The legionnaires present laughed approvingly, they could see that Maximus was playing for their pride.

But they didn't care.

Because they _were_ Aleran legionnaires, and they knew they were the best of the best.

But being seasoned veterans they couldn't help but wonder if everything would work out, they were at a massive disadvantage in this battle what with being so heavily outnumbered. It would take a miracle for them to achieve the victory they needed.

Maximus bowed to the high lords and stepped off the stage in front of Tavi who shook his tribunes hand before ascending to the platform.

The first lord gazed out over his audience, he could not afford to look weak before the most powerful men and women in the land, and long flowery oratories had never been his strong point, more like stirring spur of the moment speeches which so endeared him to the men under his command.

So he took a deep breath, and got right to the point.

Even if it was completly insane.

"I intend to wake the great fury held in check underneath the city, then claim it so that I can use it to hopefully tip the scales in our favor."

A collective gasp rang out from nearly everyone in the crowd.

Doroga laughed, getting a furious look from Marcus, who had replaced Magnus upon his death as Tavi's chief advisor despite his traitorous actions during the first vord war.

"I know it's risky," he continued sternly, once the room had quieted, "But the rewards far outweigh the risks in this situation. If I can manage to claim the power of a great fury it might give us an opportunity to push the vord back and allow us to catch our breath for awhile."

He paused for a moment picking out familiar faces in the crowd, Bernard looked uneasy, Doroga was still grinning like a schoolboy, Isana and Araris had matching shocked expressions, Maximus and Crassus simply shrugged as if they'd heard it all before. Finally he reached Kitai, sitting next to their son, Desiderus. Desiderus was nearing 20 years of age and favored his father strongly in terms of appearance, but he had his mothers slightly canted eyes.

Octavian met his sons eyes and drew strength from the look of absolute confidence the young man had. Returning his gaze to the room at large he saluted the lords and ladies of Alera and exited the silent auditorium.

Timeskip- That night

Tavi strode down the ancient passages that wound their way further and further underground beneath Riva. If he'd had more time he probably would have stopped to study the architecture, these were some very old and interesting structures, but it'd have to be put on his ever-growing list of 'things to do when no-one is trying to destroy Alera'.

He had a mission to accomplish.

At the end of the tunnel was a massive door covered in faintly glowing runes of every kind. He hesitated for a moment at the sight of it but soon moved forward and pushed on the door drawing a significant amount of strength from the solid rock beneath him.

It didn't budge.

The first lord furrowed his brow and tried again, pulling even more strength from the earth.

The door stayed motionless.

Tavi's eye twitched momentarily, he did not have time for this.

So he earthcrafted every ounce of strength he could and kicked the annoying obstruction.

It landed a good twenty feet away with a resounding 'thud'.

'Damn I'm good.' he thought as he appraised his work.

Wasting no time Octavian strode into the darkness beyond the now-empty doorway. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. The fact that the 'cavern' seemed to be nothing more than a large sewer tunnel left him rather confused. For what seemed like been hours he walked, traveling deeper and deeper into the tunnel. Eventually he reached a section in which glowing red lines ran along the walls and pulsed steadily.

"Well this place couldn't possibly get any creepier." he muttered under his breath.

As if to contradict him a thud rang out in the darkness, then another, matching the rhythm of the pulsing trails of light on the walls like some sort of demented heartbeat.

'Sigh'

"I just had to ask didn't I?"

The first lord was not expecting an answer, which made it doubly surprising when he got one.

"It is a trait many mortals share, one of your more amusing characteristics." came a disembodied whisper that echoed from all around him. Octavian swung around, looking In every possible direction for the source of the voice.

"Who's there?"

A chuckle was his answer, and the only sound was the constant 'thud' that was really starting to get to him.

"Show yourself!" he shouted, unsheathing his gladius and setting it ablaze.

A soft splash came from behind him and a ball of flame was sent in its direction. The fire splashed over something vaguely human shaped and began licking it's way up until it was completely consuming its target. He caught a glimpse of a grinning face in the light of the fire.

Then it was gone, blaze and all.

Tavi put his back to a wall and held his still flaming gladius before him, eyes darting around in search of danger.

"Now now, there's no need to get violent." the voice came again, this time from above him.

His head shot up and he saw a man with blond hair and wide blue eyes crouching above him on the wall, quite contrary to the laws of gravity. The first lord of Alera was, admittedly not for the first time, completely mind-boggled. The man on the wall tilted his head to the side curiously.

"... What?"

"How are you doing that?"

His head tilted a little further.

"Doing what?"

"Standing on the crow begotten wall!"

Queue more head tilting and owlish blinking.

"There are no crows here."

"What?" Octavian spluttered while lowering his sword and stepping away from the wall.

"Doesn't really matter though, even if there were birds down here there's nothing to eat so they'd just die." the blond muttered dejectedly.

Octavian stood there for several moments with his sword arm hanging limply at his side and his mouth open, desperately trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Your cloaks on fire." the man said in a bored tone.

"Huh...?" Tavi asked, blinking rapidly as he idly tried to wave away the smoke that was gathering around him.

"Your cloak, it seems to have caught fire."

He looked down at the conflagration that has taken hold of his cloak, and the still-flaming sword which had caused it, and fell into the calf deep water around him with a yelp.

Idly the blond waved his hand, causing the odd thuds to cease and the glowing lines to recede. He then moved to the other side of the tunnel and sat on a wooden stool that had definitely not been there before.

"So what brings you too my humble abode?"

The first lord of Alera gathered his wits and stood, trying to salvage some bit of dignity from this situation.

"I seek the great fury which was sealed here long ago." he stated regally to the odd man.

"Weee-eell, you're not going to find any great furies down here." was his reply, "Cuz I'm the only one that's been sealed here."

Tavi froze at the furys'(?) words and his talented mind immediately went into overdrive.

"You're the fury that was sealed down here?"

The blond gave him a smile which had far, far too many teeth.

"Kinda."

"What do you mean 'kinda'?" the Aleran asked with a furrowed brow.

"Well," the kinda-fury replied, taking a lecturing pose, "You _could_ call me a fury, but really I'm much more than that."

"So what are you?"

The blonds eyes seemed to glow as he continued to smile.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

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